Bright Hollow
by Slappy Cat
Summary: The world has been devoured, a consumption by bright. Now only few remain who can snuff it out. Lapis is one of them. Pearlapis Au. Cross-posted on Ao3.
1. Chapter 1

It was a shuttering gasp that rattled forth from her throat, the feeling of water escaping lungs after a near drowning. She blinked, rapid flutters of her eyelids that seemed to break frost from the tips of her lashes. She sat up slowly, wary hands clasping at the smooth metal walls curving in on her. The room she found herself in was abandoned, if the disheveled layout and dead lights that hung haphazardly were any indication.

She remembered one thing distinctly. Her name was Lapis. Everything else was a blur, a hazy deluge of images that barely passed for memories. She had no idea where she was.

Her senses adjusted, and Lapis heard the whistling of what she could best guess was wind slipping its way through the more than likely empty facility. She looked around, and then down at herself, and at what she was in.

It was some sort of pod, and she fit near snugly inside of it. She then noticed the faint wisps of smoke or steam or something similar wafting at the edges of the pod, from the surface of her dark skin. She then noticed how cold she was. She gave out a shaky breath and a plume of visible air followed.

Lapis carefully extracted herself from the pod and noticed a similar one next to her own. However, this one bore a glass casing, albeit with a large hole smashed into the center of it. The pod was empty. A myriad of computers and screens were stationed just beyond the two pods, and behind her a wealth of more. Not a single light flickered.

The power was out. Only a dusty light pooled through crumbled gaps in the far above ceiling. Lapis looked back to the pod she awoke in. How long had she been in there? Where even was this? Why was she even in there in the first place? Lapis felt an odd buzzing in her head and grimaced.

Her heart jolted at the sound of scuffling beyond the room, down what she assumed was a hall behind the double sliding doors with tinted windows. They were probably automatic at some point. As she tensed, a part of her was glad they no longer could hold that function.

She didn't know whether to take a step back or a step forward. She felt the light layer of grit on the linoleum under her toes, bare feet sensitive as the feeling flooded back through her nerves. She clenched her fingers.

Her body seemed to choose for her as she felt herself walk forward, body tense in anticipation. She heard the tapping of feet getting closer and she could feel her fight or flight response begin to kick in, every nerve ending buzzing to life with an energy that sent a wash of heat down her chest and into her stomach. And then something banged against the door.

Lapis jumped, mind now turning to a baser instinct that told her to run, now. But there was nowhere to run but the door. And she watched in trembling agony as the double doors began to creak open, long pale fingers curling through the sliver of space revealed.

With a groaning shove the doors opened, and Lapis saw another human being.

She was tall and had a soft sharpness to her jaw that was accentuated by the hard clench of it as she strained against the door. Her hair was the starkest color Lapis had seen so far, a soft peach cropped short and swooping that stood out against the slate steels and blues of the facility. When the stranger's gaze glanced up, she seemed to freeze.

They stared at each other for a long moment, before the stranger seemed to snap back into action, a wild look in her eyes as she looked behind her.

"Help me close this door," she said. Lapis was dumbstruck and stood there. The woman was already starting to shove the door back closed. She noticed Lapis not moving. "What are you doing? Help me!"

Lapis snapped into action, running forward and practically slamming herself into the coated steel as she grabbed hold of the opposite door of the stranger. Together they both shoved, the door sliding shut much faster than it had opened. The woman stepped away as it did, motioning for Lapis to do the same.

"Keep quiet. A bright seeker is out there." The woman did not take her eyes off the door.

Lapis furrowed her brow. "Bright seeker?"

The woman finally glanced towards her. This close, Lapis could see how light her eyes were. They were startling in their paleness, a blue that seemed almost unnatural in the low light, almost seeming to glow.

The woman finally looked at their surroundings, and Lapis took notice that she mumbled a curse.

"Not even a window in here."

Lapis looked around again. The woman's observation was accurate.

The woman then seemed to take notice of the pod. She looked back at Lapis, a crease etching itself at the bridge of her sharp nose.

"Did you just wake up? I didn't think there was anyone left in here."

"What?" Was all Lapis could manage. Her confusion wasn't being alleviated in the slightest. "I don't know where I am or what…any of this is. I don't know what's going on." The reality of the situation was suddenly bearing down on her. Her body unconsciously took a step back from the woman. "Who are you?"

The woman looked uncomfortable. She took another glance at the door before locking eyes with Lapis again.

"I think…I think you're a bright hunter. And I think I woke you up." That sharp jaw clenched again.

"Okay, that's really not explaining anything to me here." Lapis was trying to control the panic in her voice. "Is someone chasing you?"

The woman grimaced. "Well, something, yes. A bright seeker. It's what we were made to kill."

"I still don't know what that is." Lapis was getting frustrated. The uncertainty of the situation was making her palms sweat, and she just realized this was a complete stranger that could kill her or something at any moment. "Just tell me who you are."

"I…" The woman hesitated, looking away before seeming to steel herself, shoulders set hard. "I'm Pearl. I'm also a bright hunter."

"Okay," Lapis said slowly. "I don't know what that is." She was still apprehensive. Pearl took a deep breath, air exhaling in a misty puff.

"Bright hunters were made by The Mirror. That's the facility we're in now. We were engineered to kill bright seekers which are…. well. We don't really know what they are. But they're dangerous." Pearl pursed her lips. "This place has been long abandoned. I had come here to…. Try and find something. I tried to reroute power to the computers. I think I blew the fuse to the whole place. That's probably why you woke up."

Lapis blinked. She relaxed her shoulders slightly, but not completely. "How long have I been in here?"

Pearl shrugged. "Who knows. The place has been abandoned for three years, give or take. People have tended to stay away from The Mirror because of its high concentration of bright seekers. I'm not surprised no one found you or bothered to let you out during the infestation."

Lapis stared at her blankly. She looked to her feet, and then to her hands. She curled her clammy fingers reflexively. "So I've been in here for at least three years. The power has been on here unattended for three years?"

Pearl nodded. "Power for everything but the computers. I understand your confusion. The Mirror is an enigma of technology. I'm not really sure how it's had the capacity to stay on for this long."

"And you blew the power because you were trying to access the computers?"

Pearl cringed, a spindly hand rubbing at her neck. "Please don't remind me. I'm just… looking for something. I'm not sure what yet." A scowl weighed heavy on her brow.

"Well, good going genius. And now some monster is chasing you too. And I guess me, since you decided to choose my room of all places." Lapis crossed her arms, suddenly irked at Pearl's presence. Pearl shot an annoyed look her way.

"It's not like I did it on purpose. You would still be in that pod if it weren't for me, anyway."

Lapis couldn't stop her eyes from rolling. "Oh, am I supposed to be thankful?"

"What is with this attitude?" Pearl's voice rose, but she quickly clamped her long hands over her mouth, self-conscious at her almost mistake. She lowered her hands slightly. "Look, I'm not here to argue. Let's just get out of here before we get killed," she hissed between her teeth. Lapis heaved a sigh, nodding.

"Fine. Lead the way. And don't get me killed, I just got here." Lapis gestured her chin towards the entrance. Pearl begrudgingly nodded back, and carefully made her way back towards the heavy-set doors.

She put her ear against the door. She addressed Lapis. "Normally our heads buzz when one of those things are nearby. But The Mirror has a complex interframe and network within the walls that seems to interfere with the ability, so it's not a very reliable skill here. It's how I got jumped in the first place."

Lapis nodded slowly in reply.

"I think we're clear for now. We should take this opportunity to move." Pearl took a deep breath and placed the flat of her palms on one of the sliding doors. She gestured for Lapis to take hold of the other one. Lapis knitted her brows but complied. Together they opened the door, much more easily than Pearl had in the first place.

Pearl glanced around the corridor beyond, dark but for the faint light that filtered in through gaps in the structure, busted in or merely crumbled away. The light was cold, pale. Although she couldn't pick out any memories of weather, she could tell it was overcast.

"Follow me and try not to make too much noise." Pearl moved forward quickly, an agile grace to her long limbs that allowed her both silence and speed. Lapis was impressed, especially as she tried to avoid noisy rubble with some difficulty.

"You been through here often?" Lapis attempted to whisper loudly. Pearl gave her a sharp look that told her she failed in the whispering part.

Pearl stopped so Lapis could catch up to her, and then spoke. "Not as much as I'd like to. I don't usually get far because I don't typically stay long. Today was an exception, but I'm afraid I've pushed my luck." She sighed, dragging a hand down face, Lapis taking notice of the darkness that ringed beneath her eyes. "Garnet is going to kill me when she finds out I was out here."

"Well," Lapis spoke, "Only if we're lucky. You still have to get us out." Lapis shoved her shoulder. "Get moving!"

Pearl swatted her hand away but complied. "You remind me of Amethyst," she said.

"These your 'bright hunter' buddies?" Lapis switched her view between the back of Pearl's head and down the hall, eyes only periodically flitting between the dark windows to either side of them.

"Yes. There are quite a few of us, actually." Pearl stopped as they reached an intersection. The mess of the building was more pronounced here, scorch marks trailing from floor to ceiling and deep gouges set into the metal walls. Lapis wasn't keen on imagining what made those.

"There's a city not too far from here, out near the ocean. It's barricaded well enough, so it's relatively thriving considering the state of things." Pearl chose to go left and Lapis followed.

Lapis did not say anything in return. Instead, she focused on anxiously glancing behind herself, down the hall they decided not to go down.

"Do you know your name?" Pearl suddenly asked. Lapis jerked her head back around, blinking.

"Yes." She said this after a moment's hesitation. "Lapis. I don't remember much else. But I… know things. Like the weather. What things are called."

Pearl nodded, glancing briefly back at her over her shoulder. "To be expected. I suppose the best term to use is that The Mirror essentially 'programmed' us with knowledge of the world and of ourselves. Makes things easier if they don't have to teach us everything."

"Freaky." Lapis shivered. "Are we like, robots?"

Pearl gave a light laugh at that. "Goodness, no. We're biological engineering. At least I am, anyway." She gave Lapis a cheeky grin. "I can also say the same for a few others."

Lapis stared blankly before a sudden warmness filled her cheeks at the implication. Her face pruned up. "Ugh, gross!"

Pearl stifled a laugh behind a hand. "You're rather easy, aren't you?"

"And you're a jerk," Lapis gritted out. "And you're one to talk. You weren't exactly picture perfect suave when you busted in on me."

Lapis could practically see Pearl rolling her eyes. "Please, as if anyone would be suave in my situation." Lapis only shrugged and kept on Pearl's tail.

Suddenly she was slammed against the wall, Pearl's arm barring across her chest.

"What the fu-?" Pearl cut her protestation off with a harsh shush.

"Bright seeker," Pearl hissed out, face suddenly too close to Lapis's own. Lapis looked at her incredulously but couldn't help the fear that swept her mind. Pearl tapped her own head.

Lapis suddenly noticed the growing buzz, but also something else beneath it. Like whispering, voices speaking in the distance of her own brain.

"You can feel it, right? One's nearby." Pearl lessened the pressure on her chest, only to grab Lapis's arm and drag her into a nearby room, door busted open and no longer viable to close.

"You didn't say there was also these freaky voices." Lapis gritted her teeth, eyes squeezing shut. Pearl whipped her head around towards her.

"What? What voices?"

Lapis didn't answer Pearl's question, because when she opened her eyes and looked past Pearl's shoulder, out the dusty and tinted windows, she saw someone. Something. Figure with eyes and mouth and neck so bright she saw spots when she looked away.

"What the fuck is that?!" She couldn't keep the rising panic out of her voice, ducking down and against the wall, breaths now coming short and frantic.

"Bright seeker." Pearl said this bluntly, a breath that seemed reflexive in its finality. "Blue one. I think it's the same one that chased me."

"What do we do?" Lapis felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest, a deep thump thump thump that made it feel like her chest was going to collapse in on itself.

"Well," Pearl whispered, "we keep quiet and hope it passes by us. If not, we fight it."

"Fight it?" Lapis gave Pearl a bewildered look, putting her hand to her own throat to stop the rise in her voice.

"We're bright hunters," Pearl said. "It's what we were made to do." She kept her head ducked low, placing herself between Lapis and the door. "But if we're lucky, we won't have to fight it."

Lapis felt her body tremble, fear leaking out through every nerve ending she had. She felt the sweat collect in her palms, chilling the back of her neck.

"Fuck." That was the last thing Lapis heard before a low hum reverberated through the room, choking her on the frequency. She then saw the cold light shimmering behind Pearl, highlighting her soft hair with an unnatural blue that cut Pearl out of the scene around them.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as a crystalized hand wrapped itself around Pearl's left shoulder, the sharp skin piercing instantly and raising wells of blood. Lapis wasn't sure if Pearl made a sound, but she watched as she grabbed something from her back, off the belt around her waist. Something sharp glinted out in a quick movement, flipping from a baton like handle. And before Lapis knew it, the light was extinguished.

The head thunked against the dirty floor, light no longer pouring from the deep sockets of its eyes, beyond the blunt and long incisors that lined its open jaw. The head was a murky but translucent substance that Lapis was sure was crystal. No blood came from where the head was severed, but a thick water like liquid seeped from the neck on both the body and head.

Pearl fell to a knee, hand grasped over her wounded shoulder. "Lucky its gem was in the throat."

Lapis stayed put, legs too weak to function and move towards Pearl. "What?" Her voice trembled.

"Gems." Pearl winced. "They're like the heart of the bright seeker. Can only kill them if you destroy that. Bright hunters can see them. That's why we're the ones sent to kill these things." Pearl took in a deep gulp of air before pulling the yellow bandana off her left arm. She let go of her shoulder to wring the bandana tight. "Regular humans can't see them. They only see the bright that comes from the mouth and eyes. We can see the extra bright, the one made by the gem. Like the throat on that one." Pearl nudged her head in the direction of the decapitated bright seeker as she wrapped the bandana rather sloppily over her wounded shoulder.

"Here." Lapis finally found her nerve, getting up and moving over to Pearl. "I'll do it. Your wrap job is a joke." Her fingers lightly brushed over the bandana, gently undoing the messy knot.

Pearl gave a breathless laugh. "Thanks." She looked away in silence as Lapis worked, retying the bandana in a much more secure manner. The yellow was already turning to a muddy red.

"Can you see very well?" Pearl suddenly asked.

"What?" Lapis was caught off guard by the question. "I mean, yeah, it was bright, but I don't think it was enough to damage my eyesight. Wait, can those things damage your eyes?" Lapis jerked back, although her hands stayed on Pearl's shoulder.

"No," Pearl cut her off. "That's not what I mean." She looked to Lapis, and then Pearl gestured to her own eyes. "Your eyes they're… cloudy. I thought maybe you were completely blind at first when I ran into you, but obviously not."

"My eyes are… cloudy?" Lapis could only ask. She narrowed her eyes. Come to think of it, she didn't even know what she looked like. "Well, I can see pretty well, I think. I can see that you suck at bandaging." Up close for this long, Lapis had a better chance to look at Pearl's face. "And I can see this cool scar." She poked a finger against the pale mark above Pearl's brow, in the center of her forehead. It was a rough and jagged mark, but small enough she didn't notice it before.

Pearl jerked back, instinctively slapping Lapis's hand away. "Here." She reached inside her jacket, bringing forth a compact mirror from the inner pocket.

Lapis raised a brow. "Really?"

"It's to look around tight corners!" She defended. "They're useful. If there's a bright seeker, the light will reflect off and- anyway, it doesn't matter!" She shoved the mirror into Lapis's hands. She took it.

It clicked open silently, the thing well worn that the clasp barely even worked anymore. Lapis looked into the surprisingly clean mirror and saw exactly what Pearl meant.

A cloudy haze seemed to cover her irises and pupil alike, creating an almost silvery sheen. However, she didn't imagine this was quite what blind eyes would look like. These eyes, her eyes, were like light reflecting off the glassy surface of dark water, the faintest glow that was even more unnerving than the paleness of Pearl's eyes.

"Oh," she breathed. She broke her own gaze, trying to fill her sight with something besides her own unsettling stare. She traced the purple under her eyes, the freckles that spattered her dark cheeks and the bridge of her nose. Her hair was dark, a blue like what her mind saw as the ocean at night. It was cropped short like Pearl's, but with a longer bob and a tangle of bangs. She locked eyes with herself again. She snapped the mirror shut.

Pearl seemed offended when Lapis shoved the compact mirror back into her hands, standing up and dusting off her loose pants. "Well, you're all wrapped up, let's go."

Pearl opened her mouth to say something, but then clamped it shut. She looked away in contemplation before nodding and getting up, careful not to put weight on her bad arm. The weapon Lapis could only describe as a switchblade rapier was snapped back into the handle and placed back on Pearl's belt.

"You're right." Pearl grunted when she moved her shoulder awkwardly. "There could be more bright seekers here. We're almost out. Follow me." She marched out of the room, a hand waving for Lapis to follow. She did.

Lapis had no idea what the fuck was going on, and what was going on with her. And a part of her, a very loud, insistent part of her, didn't want to find out.

But another part, a nagging one at the back of her mind, told her she was going to find out anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

The cold air hit Lapis in a sharp wave, sending every hair on her body to stand on end. She held her jaw shut to stop the clattering of her teeth.

"I thought the facility was cold." Lapis wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing them in a vain attempt to create some warmth. They had reached a courtyard, an open area between different sections of the facility. Apparently when Pearl had said they were almost out, she just meant the building unit they were in.

"This is Unit A. It's in the center of The Mirror. There's a secret passage in there that leads underneath to a hidden sub-basement called Unit X. That's where the facilities main computer frame is," Pearl had said. "I figured if I got those computers running, they'd have a wealth of information on bright seekers. The Mirror has to know something if they made us."

"But then you blew it," Lapis had said. "Literally." Pearl had rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I blew it. The entrance to Unit X can only be accessed either through the computers, or through explosives. I'd rather not make a scene."

Lapis snorted. "Did we not just establish you already blew it?"

"Oh, quiet you."

Now they were standing outside of Unit A, and Lapis finally could see how big of a sprawling complex The Mirror was. The courtyard extended far, unkempt grass swaying in a partially frozen, arching wave away from them. When Lapis looked up, she saw what she was sure was once a glass dome, shattered to nothing but jagged pieces that stuck out like sharp teeth above them. A window, still intact, ran through each wall of the rectangular courtyard, a long and clear strip, giving a view to the multitude of building units beyond. The window was only disconnected by different doors, each leading into a vein that stretched to the organ system that were the buildings of The Mirror.

"This place is weirdly designed." Lapis shivered, squeezing herself tighter. Pearl nodded in agreement.

"I won't argue with that. If I were the architect for this place it would have been far less… organic." Pearl touched a hand lightly to Lapis's shoulder. "Come on."

Lapis shied away, Pearl's cold hands just feeling like an extension of her own frozen skin at contact. Pearl stopped and looked at her. She seemed to think for a moment, face hardening in concentration. It made Lapis slightly uncomfortable.

Finally, Pearl seemed to come to a decision, and she began to take off her jacket, bandana coming loose in the process. For her credit, she didn't even wince.

"Here." Pearl removed the bloodied bandana and held the black coat out to Lapis. Lapis stared at it, unsure of how to react. "You're cold," Pearl gave as an explanation.

Lapis shook her head, scoffing. "Yeah, and then you'll be cold, idiot. Let's just go." She turned, ready to walk through the courtyard before them. Then she felt a heavy warmth being placed on her shoulders, a change in temperature that brought a different kind of shiver.

"Please." Pearl rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine. Just wrap me back up." She held the muddy looking bandana out to Lapis. She blinked, but then took it.

"Okay," she said, robotically wrapping Pearl's still bleeding shoulder once again. The jacket smelled like the electrical bite of copper, and smoke, and something cleaner and more natural underneath it all. Like what she imagined wet roses would smell like. She tried not to think about it.

She followed Pearl through the courtyard, slipping her arms into the jacket sleeves as they went. The long and unruly grass parted with an underlying crunch, frost still lingering from the morning that Lapis assumed had passed.

"I think it's going to snow," Pearl grunted, eyes squinting as she looked up at the blanket of white looming over them rather threateningly. "Hopefully we can get to the city before that happens."

"How long is it going to take to get there?" Lapis asked. Pearl craned her head towards her.

"Two hours, give or take. There's an underground train station nearby that I take. It's not the safest, but it is a straight shot from The Mirror to the city."

"How long if we don't take the underground route?" Lapis didn't know if going into another closed space was appealing.

"It'll take a few hours longer. We'll definitely get caught in the weather then." They reached the far exit, Pearl grabbing hold of the glass door. "We're better off testing our luck with the railroad, trust me. I've done this enough times to know."

Lapis did not trust her. It seemed like a bad idea, but perhaps the only option they had. But she didn't imagine there were many places to run to in an underground tunnel if they happened to run into anymore of those bright seekers.

As Pearl attempted to pull the door open with a grunt, Lapis snapped to and helped her with the task.

"Thanks," Pearl muttered. Lapis thought she noticed an extra dampness to Pearl's bandana.

They entered the narrow vein, thin windows lining either side of them, set in place by steel walls. Lapis felt like she was going to scrape her head on the ceiling.

"Geez, could they make this thing anymore claustrophobic?" Lapis shuddered, gripping Pearl's jacket and pulling it tighter around herself.

"Well, they could have forgone the windows," Pearl said. Lapis looked out the windows, at the small frame of space it gave one to view outside. She felt like something, a bright seeker, was going to press its face up against the glass at any moment. She wasn't sure if a lack of windows would necessarily be a bad thing.

Everything inside the narrow passage was sterile, a stark contrast to what she had seen so far. The clean tiles were cold under her feet, although she could hardly feel them at this point. She hovered close by Pearl. If anything were to attack them, it was best to put Pearl between her and it. At least that's what she told herself.

The entrance into the next building was fast approaching and Lapis took notice of the pristine, shiny acrylic plaque that was screwed into the wall beside the door. Unit B, it said.

"Unit B is where I usually come in through. Closest building to the subway." Pearl didn't need to struggle with this door much. It was already partially open, just enough for a person to squeeze through.

"This where you blew the fuse?" Lapis smirked at the twitch of Pearl's brow, a subtle sign of irritation.

"No. That was in Unit D. The main generators are in the basement there." Pearl slipped through the doorway, Lapis following after.

"Wow, Unit D, huh. That sounds like it's kinda far from Unit A. You ran all the way over here from there after messing up?" Lapis couldn't help herself. She had already picked up on the fact Pearl held a rather stifling sense of pride about herself.

Pearl seemed to throw her hands up in defeat, eyes going skyward in exasperation. "Yes, yes, I get it, I messed up. Can we move on, please?" She rubbed her right temple, other hand now propped on her hip.

"I dunno, can we? You seem like the one still hung up on it." Lapis couldn't help the smugness leaking into her voice. She crossed her arms, looking Pearl up and down. There was a stiffness to how she stood, like she was trying to prove something, to cover up a weakness. Lapis couldn't lie to herself and say she didn't enjoy peeling away at it.

"Fresh out of the pod and yet filled with such spite, I see." Pearl frowned at her, an unimpressed mask poorly concealing her annoyance. Lapis didn't expect her face to fall into a frown of its own.

"Well excuse me if I'm not happy about being some fake person being dragged around by another one." She was surprised by the own venom she felt leak into the words she spat. Lapis wasn't sure where these strong emotions were surfacing from, but she didn't really care, as she thought about it. She had every right to be upset about all of this.

Pearl balked. "Fake person? Lapis, neither of us are fake people, " Pearl tried, but Lapis just brushed past her.

"I came out of a fucking pod. So did you. You literally said we were engineered. That sounds kinda fake to me." Lapis didn't even care that her heavy and quick footfalls were causing scattered debris to lodge themselves into the bottom of her feet. She didn't even care when she felt a splash of warmth following a particularly hard stomp, a wetness that slicked the heel of her right foot.

She felt Pearl grab hold of her arm, but Lapis yanked it away. "Can we just fucking get out of here?" She stopped walking away, but she turned herself away from Pearl.

Pearl sighed, hand pinching the bridge of her nose. "Look, let's not fight." She looked up. "I'm sorry you've been thrown into this all suddenly. I know it's a nightmare, trust me, I really do." Pearl walked closer, placing a gentle hand on Lapis's shoulder. Lapis didn't look at her, but she didn't pull away either. "Just let me get you out of here. It'll be better once we're safe."

Lapis saw Pearl's intense stare from the corner of her eye, and she couldn't help but be drawn to that gaze. There was a nervous waver behind it, but it was an imploring look that Lapis was having a hard time ignoring. Finally, she nodded.

"Okay," she breathed. She still felt an angry pulse in the back of her mind and under skin, but she kept it at bay. It wasn't even Pearl's fault. But she was convenient to take it out on.

Pearl nodded back. "Things will make more sense when we aren't constantly on our toes to survive." Her hand slipped from Lapis's shoulder, down the sleeve of the jacket. Lapis knew Pearl's hands were cold, but she felt a trail of warmth follow them anyway.

They kept close as they traversed Unit B, both casting wary glances.

"I thought you said this place was usually crawling with bright seekers?" Lapis whispered. The bottom of her foot began to itch from where the rubble pierced her skin.

"I did." Pearl looked concerned. "This is actually more worrisome than if we had run into some on the way here besides the initial one."

"Maybe we're lucky and there just aren't many out today?" Lapis weakly offered. Pearl shook her head.

"No. I slipped by a few when I first arrived." She gave Lapis a wry smile. "You really think I let myself get caught by the first bright seeker I came across?"

Lapis shrugged. "I'm not sure what surprises you hold." Pearl shook her head again, but this time in amusement.

"No, believe it or not, I'm no rookie." She crept close to the wall as they neared the end of the hall where another intersection greeted them, a circular counter resting in the crossroads with busted terminal screens mounted onto it.

"Could have fooled me." Lapis put more humor into her voice. She wanted to just come off as playful this time. Luckily, Pearl caught onto it and shot a smile over her shoulder. Lapis couldn't help the one it spread on her own face.

"Well. That's no good." Pearl pulled herself back from the edge of the hallway, hand to her head. "I think I found our bright seekers."

Lapis's stomach dropped, and then a buzz began to grow in her skull. "Where are they?" She couldn't stop her hands from flying to her head, whispering intermingling with the static.

"Gathered down the hall, in the entrance lobby. I count eighteen, give or take. I don't know what they're all doing congregating together like that." There was a bit of panic laced in Pearl's voice. Lapis couldn't help but pick up on it, and in turn she felt panic well up in her own throat.

"Think you can take out that many?" Lapis gave a warbling laugh. Pearl's face twisted as she peeked beyond the corner again.

"Afraid to say even I'm not that good." Lapis could appreciate her joke, even if it did fall flat in the reality of things. "If there was some way to separate them, I could take them out individually, but altogether like that…" She trailed off, not wanting to complete the thought. Lapis appreciated it.

"So, what? Do we make a run for it? Hide?" Having a run in with just one of those things was enough experience she needed with them. She looked to Pearl desperately.

Pearl took a deep breath. "Well, we have two options. One, we take the longer way around and run the risk of running into more. Or two, I divert them away while you get to the subway station." Pearl steadied her eyes with Lapis. A shudder ran through Lapis.

"We can't separate, I don't know where to go. I can't fight those things if I run into one." She curled in on herself protectively, hands clenching at each sleeve of Pearl's jacket. Pearl gave her a saddened look.

"We won't separate. We'll just have to hope we're lucky. There's a backway that leads into Unit C. We can exit The Mirror grounds through there, too." Pearl shifted away from the corner, and Lapis copied her movements.

There was another hallway, a smaller one Lapis hadn't noticed, near where they had entered Unit B in the first place. Lapis could barely call it a hallway, barely being wide enough for them to walk shoulder to shoulder. There were no windows lining this one, leaving the passageway engulfed in a blackness that seemed unnatural even in that place.

"You sure know this place in and out, huh," Lapis said with a tremble in her voice. She gripped the back of Pearl's shirt tightly, certain the sweat from her palms were soaking the area through.

"Like I said, I've been around here a few times, both before and after this place shut down." Pearl led them to the end of the hallway, and Lapis watched as she crept towards the edge. To the left was a wall, and so Pearl stood opposite that, concealing herself from anything to the right. She moved her hand towards Lapis without looking.

"Hand me the mirror, please."

Lapis complied, digging her free hand into the inside pocket of the jacket. She felt the crumpled form of paper and then the hard casing of the compact mirror. She handed it to Pearl.

Pearl unclasped it, holding it in front of her at an angle. Her brow furrowed, and her pale eyes seemed to grow sharp as they glanced over the hallway reflected in the mirror. She nodded to herself.

"I think we're okay, at least down this hallway. Let's go." She slipped away, and Lapis slipped after her with a lump in her throat.

This hall wasn't as wide as the previous one they were in, and it was apparent much of that space was allocated to the multiple rooms that lined it.

"Unit C was used for physical therapy testing on bright hunters. There's technically only one official entrance into this building. The hall we just came through was to slip test subjects through out of passerby sight."

Lapis looked at Pearl strangely. "Why would they need to do that? Weren't you guys made to, well, hunt bright seekers? I didn't think you were a secret."

Pearl loudly exhaled through her nose. "Making us wasn't exactly considered ethical." Pearl glanced back at her, then down at the iron grip she held on the back of Pearl's shirt. She chose not to say anything about that. "That's why we were only moved around deeper in The Mirror. The courtyard was a compromise of giving us a taste of the outdoors."

Lapis grimaced. A part of her was grateful she hadn't been released for that. But then she remembered the situation she was in and decided she couldn't choose which was the worse scenario.

"That sucks," was all Lapis could say.

"Yeah," was all Pearl replied.

Silence fell heavy on them, and it weighed Lapis down, piling on top of the anxiety already burning in her gut and up her spine and behind her throat. She swallowed thickly. She became acutely aware of her body, and the feeling of grit in the raw underside of her feet, of the cold prickling her skin.

And then that cold prickled behind her eyes, and a crackle in her brain came with it. "Pearl." She couldn't help how harshly the whisper came out. "Do you feel that?"

Pearl was now alert, lank body tenser than Lapis had seen it. She could see the muscles in her thin neck tensing and even the pulsing of the blood under the skin. Both of their breaths came out in heavy plumes that shined with miniscule crystals, the moisture in their breath refracting light as it froze.

"What the fuck." Lapis felt the hair on the back of her neck stand in alert, pulling at her skin so sharply it stung. Pearl's hand had somehow moved to the handle of her weapon without Lapis even noticing.

Pearl whipped around and looked past Lapis, eyes hard and face painted in shock. Lapis felt her heart stop.

"Did they follow us?" And in the next instance Pearl's long fingers were wrapped around Lapis's wrist and they were running faster than she'd probably ever ran.

She felt the wave of a deep frequency washing down the hall, and her heart felt like it had been shocked into a frantic beating. She chanced a glance over her shoulder, and her rapid heart jumped into her throat and she felt the urge to throw it up.

Several bright seekers, a myriad of cold, shining blue and yellow light, came flooding from that narrow hallway, scrambling over each other like an undulating form of sharp glass and crystal. They were human in shape, but their movements were not, jerky like their limbs were on the verge of freezing. Yet somehow they were still fast, moving as if under a strobe light. Lapis looked back forward and doubled her sprint behind Pearl.

She forced herself to release the grip she held on Pearl's shirt as she fell in step along side her.

"That way!" Pearl breathed out in a thick fog, roughly grabbing Lapis by the arm again and yanking her sharply down another long corridor, this one marginally wider than the previous.

"There are a few security locked doors ahead of us before we reach the main lobby. Let's hope they're open!" Pearl was panting heavily, although Lapis could hardly hear it over her own labored breaths and the buzzing and voices that jittered angrily in her head.

"Oh thank goodness," Pearl rasped out as they reached the first door, blasted open into aging metal and rust long ago.

Lapis could still hear the crunch of glass behind them, the sound of the bright seekers in their own janky sprint. They were awfully persistent, and Lapis felt like she must have actually died and just woken up in hell.

They zipped past two more doors, both equally as destroyed as the first.

"We're almost there!" Pearl assured in a breathless shout, the slaps of their feet interspersed by the sound of the agonizing glass on linoleum. "They are awfully persistent today!" Pearl repeated Lapis's thought.

Lapis could have cried as she saw that overcast light wafting in through the clear double doors just ahead of them, an illumination that fought weakly against the unnatural light following close behind them.

And then something even brighter than them both crawled its way around the corner.

"Oh fuck!" Pearl's reflexes continued to impress Lapis, because she pulled Lapis down with her, their momentum sliding them over the long ago polished floor and under the many sweeping arms of bright that seared over their heads.

Lapis felt momentarily blinded, but the spots were quickly replaced by the even brighter form that pulsed with a tangle of crystal limbs before them.

An amalgamation of arms and hands crawled over each other in a knot, hanging from a shining mass that perched atop. Two pinpricks of shining dark cut through that bright, eyes that seemed to immediately focus in on them.

"What the FUCK is that?" Lapis felt like she was losing her mind.

"Shatterer. I'll tell you about them if we survive!"

Pearl pulled Lapis out of the way of another thundering slam, a shockwave of a high pitched whine cutting through the air. The arms crawled over each other, twisting back in their direction.

And then the bright seekers caught up, and some of those arms redirected, grasping hands of crystal grabbing multiple heads of weaker bright. And then with a sound of shattering glass, the hands clenched, and the bright beneath them crumbled.

"Uh," Lapis could only manage.

"I'll tell you later! Move!"

And Lapis felt that familiar grip on her arm again, tugging past the doors Pearl slammed so hard into they cracked.

And then they were outside. And the light was so dull and warm in comparison.

They were in a maze of buildings, but they were outside. Unsettled cobblestone made a path beneath their feet as they kept running. And before Lapis knew it, they were running alongside a cliff face, a dark ocean lapping loudly against it far below. There was just a cold, frosted expanse of land before them, tall and yellowed grass soon scratching at their shins.

Lapis felt like she could cry. She figured the tears had frozen in her tear ducts.

And as she looked at the blood dripping from beneath Pearl's makeshift wrapping, down the length of her arm in the brightest and deepest red her new eyes had ever seen, she didn't know what to feel.

But it certainly wasn't free.


	3. Chapter 3

Lapis was sure by the end of this her feet were going to fall off. If she were to look at the soles of her feet, she guaranteed the blood there would be frozen to a crusty red. At some point in their trek, Pearl had finally noticed she didn't have any shoes, and had offered Lapis her socks. Lapis didn't even hesitate to say yes.

She felt like she was slowly accumulating Pearl's clothes.

"Why did you even travel so light? You should have known it would be freezing." Lapis suppressed a rather dire shiver. She looked with worry as she noticed a few flurries of white falling around them.

Pearl merely shrugged. "I don't get cold very easily. Well, I've been told I feel cold. But I don't get cold."

"That sounds fake." Lapis gave a suspicious pout. Pearl only shrugged again, a small smile on her face. "Maybe you are a robot after all."

"Oh, I wish." Pearl waved a dismissive hand with a laugh, a lighter and real one in opposition to the ones she had heard earlier. It was rather comforting to hear. "I would get so much more done if I didn't have to sleep or eat." Pearl then brought a hand to her chin, suddenly thinking. "Actually, I wonder if Peridot could do something about that… "

Lapis couldn't help but laugh. "You're such a dork." Pearl gave a beaming smile in return, and Lapis couldn't help the warmth that twisted in her stomach. She quickly tried to divert her attention away from it. "So, who's this Peridot? Another bright hunter I assume?"

Pearl made a funny face as she gave an exaggerated shrug. "Bright hunter in the barest sense of the term. You'd never catch her out actually fighting one of those things." A more bitter toned creeped in under Pearl's voice. "She's more a technician, strategist, that sort of ilk. She builds us weapons, researches, formulates plans. Something the rest of us could easily do." The bitterness clawed its way forth on that last part.

"Whoa, got some beef with this girl?" Lapis tried to steer the conversation back to light hearted. Her body had dealt with enough anxiety for a lifetime.

Pearl heaved a sigh. "Not really, truth be told. Just my own… personal issues, I suppose. Don't think much of it." And with that, the issue was deflected. Lapis almost gave out an audible sigh of relief.

"Over there." Pearl suddenly pointed ahead of them, an outcropping of bright buildings that formed what Lapis guessed was a small town.

"There's an entrance to the underground railway in that town. The place has been long abandoned since the bright consumption, what with being so close to the facility. But I guess the lack of humans there lost the interest of the bright seekers. I don't really run into them there." Pearl twirled her hand, waving it at the end to accentuate the point.

Lapis was still nervous about it. But anything seemed better than The Mirror at this point.

"It doesn't seem like there are ever any humans at The Mirror," Lapis said. "Why do they gather there and not an abandoned town?"

"I honestly don't know," Pearl said, a hand reaching up to push a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "It's just what I've seen. Perhaps something in The Mirror draws them there. I wouldn't be surprised with all the secrets that are probably buried in that place." Pearl's eyes drifted down, a sign Lapis took as her receding into her own thoughts. That look of concentration cemented on her face, and they were left with a long moment of silence as they shouldered their way closer to the town. Lapis shifted the jacket on her shoulders, suddenly feeling both distant and suffocated by Pearl's presence.

Pearl seemed to go into her own head often, even in this short and miniscule time Lapis had awoken and known her. Lapis almost felt left out in a way, like a bystander at the edge of a crowd watching a conversation she would never be included in.

"So, speaking of bright seekers." Lapis brushed a hand through her bangs, an attempt to exert some of the jittery energy that was building its way back up. "Mind explaining to me what the hell it was we barely made it past back there?" She tilted her head towards Pearl, arms tightening around her torso as she leaned forward.

Pearl snapped to, eyes wide as if she just now realized Lapis was there. She brought a hand to her face, fingers delicately hovering over her mouth.

"Right," Pearl said, "the shatterer." She let out a shaky breath, bringing the hand to rest against her own cheek, pinky curled against her lip. "It's another form of bright seeker. We don't really know its purpose beyond, well, shattering other… defective bright seekers."

"Defective?" Lapis narrowed her eyes.

"Damaged bright seekers. Or ones that used to be human." Pearl pointedly avoided Lapis's wary gaze that widened into shock.

"What?" Lapis breathed. "Humans? You're telling me some of those things used to be people?" Lapis relinquished the embrace she held on herself, only to reign it back in again as she jerked back.

"Yes," Pearl said bluntly, the hand dropping from her face as she straightened her back and squared her narrow shoulders. "That's what bright seekers do to people. They consume them in their bright from the inside out. That's why we called the infestation the bright consumption." Pearl's breath came out in steady puffs, visible in the cold air. She seemed to go into herself once again, stating the words without any inflection of emotion.

"But… why would they turn people into bright seekers and then shatter them?"

Pearl shook her head. "I don't know. The colored ones, like the ones that chased us back in The Mirror, those used to be human. White bright seekers are originals, the ones that came through a rift that was opened years ago."

"Those were people?" Lapis's voice came out weak. "That thing killed people… you killed someone?"

"They aren't people anymore," Pearl said coldly.

"They used to be," Lapis said back. Pearl said nothing in return. She merely kept her gaze forward.

Lapis was silent. Then she spoke again.

"What do they do with the shattered bright seekers?"

Pearl breathed. "Add to themselves. Recycle them into their own bright. At least as far as we've observed. We don't know for what exact purpose."

"What's the point? They just… kill other bright seekers to make themselves bigger?"

"Only ones that are damaged or originally human," Pearl pointed out. "I've never seen a shatterer break a white bright seeker unless it was already cracked. The yellow, blue, pink… they're very liberal with breaking those ones."

"If a bright seeker is one of those colors, it used to be human?" Lapis asked, needing another affirmation of their reality. Pearl nodded. Lapis felt sick.

"Are we just food for them?" Lapis again asked. Pearl ran a hand tiredly through her hair.

"I don't know. If we are, then the bright seekers make the food, and only the shatterers eat it." Pearl kept the hand tangled in her pale red hair. Lapis took in how utterly exhausted Pearl looked, how pale. It wasn't a healthy pallor, but one that gave way to an underlying sickliness. She felt a real twinge of sympathy, and she almost felt the urge to retroactively take back the conversation.

"You said shatterers are bright seekers, right? Do they not turn people?" Lapis wasn't entirely sure she wanted to hear the answer. Pearl sighed heavily.

"They don't. Honestly, considering what they do to people when they get their hands on them, I almost wish they did." She gave out a humorless laugh. Lapis decided she wasn't going to ask further.

When Lapis looked back ahead, they were just upon the town, decrepit homes and shops with peeling paint fostering a dead oasis in the open, frozen pasture.

"This used to be a farming community," Pearl abruptly said as they entered the remote town, passing by a collapsing barn that bore a red that was most certainly vibrant at one point. "This was the first place to go when the bright consumption came."

"Were you there?" Lapis cringed as the question left her mouth involuntarily.

"No." There was a slight warble in Pearl's voice. "Too early for me. I just saw the aftermath. We used this town as a practice hunting ground." Pearl let out a laugh again, but there was a crack running through it.

"I'm sorry," she said. "That's not really important. Let's just get to the subway." Pearl strode forward, hands balled into tight fists and jaw set.

Lapis said nothing but felt that maybe she should. Still, she chose to stay silent. Or maybe she was just at a loss for words that could be worth anything in this moment, in this place she didn't quite understand, and with this person she barely knew.

They came upon the underground train entrance, a rectangle carved out of the cemented earth in the center of the town, broken lampposts standing to each side as sentinels. The guard railing wrapping around was a pale green speckled with splashes of rust that almost looked like dried blood in the shadows of the overcast light.

The steps going down were cracked, some portions rising in ripples like an earthquake had wedged itself between the splits in the concrete. As they quickly descended, Lapis noticed the steps gradually turning to a charred black, like an inferno had crawled its way up and burned for hours but couldn't quite make its way to the surface. More cracks were present, connecting like the surface of smoldering wood, making it look brittle and giving Lapis the urge to tread with trepidation. Pearl, however, did not hold a hesitation in her step.

Their walk soon flattened out into the platform of the railway, a darkness permeating forward to suffocate the pitiful light that barely ate its way down the stairwell. After everything, Lapis would have found a comfort in it if it did not leave her blind.

"How are we supposed to get through here? Follow the wall or something?" Lapis was a bit chagrinned, but at least it was marginally warmer under here where the earth's heat was trapped from the weather above.

Pearl shook her head, a small smile taking purchase on her face as she reached a hand into a pant pocket. She pulled out what Lapis could discern in the low light as a flat oval, a murky translucence to its surface. Pearl pressed a thumb over it, and a warm blue light diffused from it, low but far reaching.

"Whoa." Lapis stared at it, the round object's light not even hurting her eyes. "Fancy flashlight."

"It's something Peridot made for us." A slight smugness worked its way into Pearl's smile. "I made a few adjustments to it, of course. The original thing was much too bright with too short of a range. I think my version is a vast improvement above it." Pearl gave a tilt to her head, free hand raised in a delicate but confident gesture. Lapis just shrugged.

"I wouldn't know."

Pearl puffed her cheeks out in a frown. "Well, just take my word for it that mine is much better."

Lapis shrugged again. "Sure, whatever dork." She gave Pearl a reassuring smile. Pearl couldn't help but smile back.

They walked to the edge of the platform where a wide trench that was the railway cut through it. Pearl jumped down without pause, habit cut into her lean muscle. Lapis was less eager.

"Wouldn't it be easier to travel along the platform?" Lapis asked. Pearl shook her head, eyes closing as she did so, reopening to look up at Lapis.

"The platform ends not too further down. There's no point."

Lapis looked down at her nervously. The top of Pearl's head barely reached the same height as the platform, and she was taller than Lapis by a large margin. She didn't imagine getting back up would be an easy feat for herself, especially if they happened to run into trouble.

"It'll be okay." Pearl seemed to read her mind. "It's not as hard as it seems to get back up. I'll give you a boost before I get up in any case." Pearl then reached a hand out, imploring Lapis to take it and jump down.

Lapis gave a moment of thought before she kneeled, taking the hand offered to her. She watched as those nimble fingers curled around her hand, enveloping them in their soft grip, her own hand looking so small in comparison to the long digits. Pearl's palms were surprisingly soft.

With Pearl's hold of her hand steadying Lapis, she jumped down, other hand bracing itself on the edge of the platform. She winced as her numb feet hit the ground below, almost causing her legs to give out. She stumbled forward, but Pearl caught her before she could eat concrete.

Pearl's arm had wrapped protectively around Lapis's back, holding her close to Pearl's chest. The smell of wet roses that had lingered on the jacket was much stronger at this proximity.

Lapis felt heat bloom in her face and she instinctively pushed herself out of Pearl's grip, hands shoving Pearl back a bit more roughly than intended. She then noticed with their height difference her hands had landed a bit higher than Pearl's stomach, placing them in a place that made Lapis feel the heat intensify in her cheeks. She quickly retracted her arms, fingers snapping shut into her palms.

Pearl looked bewildered, arms hovering to either side.

"Sorry," Lapis said quickly. "Stumble caught me off guard." She willed the heat to abate from her face, but it only seemed to surge up her neck. The confusion was still etched on Pearl's face, but she gave a reassuring smile through it, lifting a placating hand.

"It's alright. Reflexes are a tricky thing, after all." Pearl waved a dismissive hand, a nervous chuckle weakly escaping her, and her eyes darted away to look anywhere but at Lapis. Lapis just huddled in on herself.

"Cool. Uh, lead the way?" It came out more as an awkward question than a suggestion or command. Pearl looked back at her, eyes wide like a deer in headlights before giving a silent nod of confirmation.

She turned stiffly, her hands tense around the oval light source in her palm. Lapis followed her, a grimace on her face that she was trying to smooth out. She flexed her fingers near her chest, attempting to work out the feeling of Pearl on her fingertips and in her flustered mind.

Pearl steadied her pace ahead of Lapis, proper posture returning to her spine. She rubbed her shoulder, the wounded one with the tarnished bandana still wrapped around it. The blood seemed to have stopped flowing a while ago, and what had spilled down her arm was smeared in a vibrant rust in the soft light glowing from her palm. Lapis felt a tinge of worry at the flinch that wracked Pearl's newly recovered posture as she touched a particular spot on her shoulder that was heavy with bloodstain.

"Did I hurt your shoulder?" A prickle pulled at the back of Lapis's head, worry at the possibility of potentially incapacitating Pearl more.

Pearl looked back at her, giving a gentle wave of the hand to brush away her concern. "I'm quite alright." She gave a delicate pat to her shoulder. "Nothing I can't handle. Don't worry about me."

"Kay." Lapis worried anyway. Her reply came off as too blunt to her own ears, but her mind was scrambling at different possibilities ahead of them, shoved headfirst into awareness again of where they were and what they were doing and what they were running from. She felt guilty, but she didn't want to spend time worrying about Pearl's injury if Pearl wasn't going to make anything of it herself. She just needed them to reach the end of this damn tunnel and the end of this journey.

They could worry about Pearl's wound later. Lapis could worry about the state of her feet, the state of her mind, later. They could do all of that later, if they ensured they had a later and kept moving. Pearl clearly had the same idea, locking away any remnants of pain behind a taut mask.

They were deeper into the railway now, the platform edge long behind them in the dark. Ahead it was much the same, a track that shot straight into an inkiness that Pearl's light seeped away at gradually.

"The train route cuts a straighter and narrower path to Beach City. There are quite a few obstacles we would have had to go around if we stayed above, not to mention you aren't fit for the cold weather bearing down on us." Pearl briefly looked away from her steady gaze ahead, giving an acknowledging glance towards Lapis.

"Beach City where we're going, I guess?" Lapis looked at the back of Pearl's head as she turned it forward again.

"Yes, that's correct," Pearl said.

"How far until we get there?" Lapis asked. "Not that this place isn't cozy and all, but I would love to experience a shower." She did appreciate that she no longer could see her own breath down in the tunnel.

"Technically speaking, two more platforms. At this rate we should be there within an hour."

Lapis allowed herself a sagging sigh, shoulders losing just a fraction of rigidity.

"Oh, thank God." Lapis rubbed the heels of her palms roughly into her eyes. "I know I just woke up, or whatever, but I could use a rest." She wasn't quite off guard yet, but she allowed herself the momentary fantasy.

"As could I." Pearl rubbed the back of her neck, fingers brushing through the downy hair on her nape. Lapis copied the action, fingers itching for an indescribable reason. Her hand ran over her neck more roughly, making a small divot in pent up energy she couldn't place. She felt like this was going to be an agonizingly long hour.

Time seemed to crawl along with the dulled thud of their feet on track. Soon, however, another light, a new light, began to emanate ahead of them, and as it did Lapis felt her throat clench up on instinct. But when she noticed Pearl remained unfazed, she cleared the bleariness of fear that pumped through her brain and saw that this light was weak and diluted. In just a few long strides she saw that it was another opening, one that was presented with a boarding platform. Lapis exhaled through her nose heavily, relief at the sight of both a natural light and a landmark in their trek.

Pearl swiveled her head about, looking to the platforms to either side of them, the one on the right with the open well of a staircase, and the one on the left with a darkened ascent against a far wall.

"It looks like we're in the clear here. We shouldn't run into trouble from here on out, as long as we're careful." Pearl began to walk forward again, a confidence to her step that wasn't quite there before. Lapis lingered, looking around with a sudden apprehension that her mind couldn't grasp the roots of. She shrugged it off, trailing after Pearl into the pitch beyond the platform, only the soft glow of Pearl's weird flashlight to lead her.

"Man, it's so dark in here." Lapis looked around, but knew that like the rest of the tunnel, she wouldn't be able to make out much. Just solid concrete to either side, cut off at the top in a sharp gradient of black. The tracks below reflected the light in a much gentler manner, shadows diffused to almost a flat appearance on the gray metal. The flat but yielding light made it less difficult to traverse the upraised bars that crisscrossed, allowing Lapis to move with a more assured step. She didn't want to trip and eat railway, or worse, fall into Pearl again and embarrass herself further.

She was still trying to get over the tingling the first incident left her, and she was pretty sure that was two platforms ago.

Suddenly they were bathed in darkness, the light from Pearl's palm extinguishing. Before Lapis could even register her surprise, a strong hold on her arm pulled her down roughly.

"Hold on," Pearl whispered near her head. Her voice was a cold hiss in Lapis's ear, and she shivered at the sensation. And then the tingle from that whisper melted into a growing buzz, and then a completely different set of whispers.

"Seriously?" Lapis couldn't help the exasperation in her tone. She felt rather than saw Pearl shift, her arm brushing against Lapis. Her hand was still wrapped around Lapis's arm, and Lapis felt herself being pulled forward, feet brushing against the numbing metal of the rail.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to move very quietly." Lapis felt a nudge to her shoulder, causing her to become aware of a bright pinprick in the distance.

"Of course, it's in the direction we need to go," Lapis grumbled.

"I'll kill it if I need to," Pearl assured. "Hopefully it's the only one down here."

"I thought you said you didn't usually run into those things down here?" Lapis gave her a disgruntled look despite the fact she knew Pearl wouldn't be able to see it.

"I usually don't," Pearl said. "It seems like today is just full of exceptions to the status quo."

Lapis heard the shifting of feet, rubble making a distinct crinkling underfoot. It was a preemptive sound that allowed Lapis to prepare herself for the drag on her arm, leading her after Pearl in the darkness. That pinprick steadily grew to a large speck, and then into a beacon. Pearl kept them pushed against the wall of the railway trench closest to the bright seeker, staying out of its overreaching light.

It was staggering on the edge above, a sliver of platform that ran on each side before widening out as Pearl and Lapis slipped past it.

There was no natural light to battle the harsh and ethereal one of the bright seeker, the platform having only two opposing stairwells that swallowed shadow.

Pearl kept her gaze up as they crept by, the tinkle of glass interspersing the blaring buzz in their heads. Lapis bit her lip to keep any stray noise from escaping her. She didn't even know if these things reacted to sound, but she didn't want to find out.

As they passed right under the bright seeker, the warbling voices in Lapis's head grew, almost equal to the static that stretched between her ears. She bit her lip harder, feeling blood trickle down her chin as she fought to keep her cool.

_SSsssssSsSsss_

The voices inside Lapis's brain hissed, as if trying to conjure words. She felt the nerves behind her eyes twitch, words like sparks attempting to zap at her mind.

_SSSsSssssSSSSSSUUUUuu_

_SSsss_

_BbbbBBbbbbbbb_

Lapis squeezed her eyes shut, trusting Pearl to lead her to where they needed to go. Her temples throbbed, static like dead air on a radio riding her synapses. And then like a pitched cord of a guitar snapping, a much clearer cacophony of voices hummed.

_SUN BEARER_

Lapis gasped, jolted forth by involuntary shock. She vaguely registered the sound of Pearl cursing before the entire tunnel filled with light, a mass of bodies scrambling down the left stairwell.

Lapis knew she was being pulled forward, legs running without her mind having any say in the matter. She couldn't concentrate, not with all these voices playing her eardrums. Then suddenly Pearl's face was in front of hers, so close she could see the flecks of icy highlights in Pearl's blue eyes.

"Lapis!"

Lapis realized that Pearl was calling her name, and probably had been for the past few seconds.

"Pearl?" She breathed her name like a question, brain still frazzled by the invading frequency.

Pearl had somehow gotten up onto the platform without Lapis noticing, and she was then hauling Lapis up with a strength that belied her thin arms. Those arms gave a sense of steadiness to the wobble in Lapis, and she felt herself yearning for that security when Pearl promptly let go of her.

"Run! Up the stairwell! I'll distract them, just run!" She felt Pearl's hands push her, and Lapis's legs somehow caught her as she lurched forward. Adrenaline took over, drowning out even the voices as she suddenly reached the threshold of the stairwell. And then she looked back, and a moment of clarity came to her as she saw Pearl jumping back into the railway trench, into the horde of bright seekers that were pouring out of the further stairwell.

"Pearl!" Lapis practically choked, faltering at the sight of Pearl pushing through that blinding mass, a glint of metal snuffing out a number as she pushed through them, drawing them in the opposite direction of the stairwell Lapis was half ascended up, drawing them in the opposite direction of Lapis. And then several of those impossibly bright stars came from the stairwell, from the once darkness of the trench, reaching limbs grasping between the shifting waves of light.

Shatterer. Two of them.

Lapis was frozen in fear, fear for herself, but an overwhelming fear for Pearl. She could barely make out the look of determination laced with panic on Pearl's face. Pearl swung a blinding blade at a shatterer as it barreled through the mass, cutting through more than one reaching crystalized limb. But a look of surprise swept over her washed out face as both shatterers completely ignored her, instead plunging forward through the remaining bright seekers, falling clumsily into the trench and crawling back over the edge like spiders to the platform Lapis stood in the stairwell of.

And now those voices were like popping noise, a shrill that shot right through her temples and cut into the veins of her brain.

_ T_

_ N_

_ R_

It was like water on molten metal, the crackle of a blown fuse. Under it was a muffled voice shouting her name like it was being said behind thick glass. But she was fixated on those eyes of glowing pitch, sharp holes that fought against the bright that surrounded them.

And then one of those overlaying voices in her head cut off, like an amp turned too high, severing off with a screeching echo. And the shatterer closest to her seemed to burst, bright head spraying a flurry of frozen condensation. Metal clattered as Pearl's sword skid from the downed head of the shatterer, covered in a viscous fluid that glittered.

Lapis blearily saw the other shatterer reaching for her, before she was pushed to the ground, shoulder hitting heavily against the wall of the stairwell before she fell and tumbled down the steps. The sensation that rushed through her nerves was like plunging into cold water, and instinct brought clarity to her mind as she looked up from her downed place.

She watched as the many hands of the shatterer curled around Pearl, possessively snatching her where Lapis had just stood. It squeezed, and Lapis watched with suffocating dread as a spat of blood came forth from Pearl's mouth instead of a gasp of pain. Those hands then shoved down, smacking Pearl against the stairs, her head cracking audibly on a step and leaving a dark wet spot. The shatterer leaned over Pearl, making her seem so small and wilting under its overwhelming glow, those black eyes seeming to eat away at the light in Pearl.

Lapis didn't think as her body reacted, hand gripping the handle of Pearl's blade that lay discarded on the concrete. The shatterer's limbs felt like cutting through thick and frozen meat, a resistance that gave a too satisfying give. Before that remaining screeching voice in her mind could focus itself back on Lapis, she speared the sword between those two pitch eyes as it turned. Stray arms flailed, loosening Lapis's grip on the sword's handle and knocking her back. And then that light exploded, another dust cloud of glitter that sprayed the concrete like ice snow.

Lapis felt discombobulated, even when the sharp pricks of crystal fingers cut through the skin of her arm. It was enough to bring her back to her senses, the buzz and whispering in her head background noise in comparison to the cacophony that had occupied the space between her ears.

She swung her arms out, a wet thunk squelching as the impact of her flesh against that solid light of the bright seeker cut her.

The pain was like searing ice, but not in vain as the blow knocked the bright seeker away, giving Lapis enough time to scramble for Pearl's sword again.

She swung it wildly, barely registering the extra bright on the remaining bright seekers as she cut through their too solid flesh.

She fell, panting, sword still gripped between tense fingers that dribbled blood and sparkling fluid, mixing into something swirling and pink. There had only been three bright seekers left, and they lay in several pieces on the quickly dulling concrete.

Lapis pushed herself back to her feet, using the fading light of the bright seekers to make her way to Pearl, who lay silently in the still clenched grasp of the dead shatterer. The diminishing white glow made Pearl look too pale, too ghostly, the red of her blood much too bright even in this quickly consuming darkness.

She pried desperately at those thick fingers, crystal skin leaving cuts on Lapis's palms as she forced them open with the sound of breaking ice. She almost cried with relief as she saw a shuddering breath shake Pearl's chest, and Lapis reached hands over her, one going to support her head and the other fumbling for the light device in Pearl's pocket, fingers slippery with blood.

She squeezed it, practically forcing that soft light from it, the warm blue now tinged a pinkish hue from the blood coating it.

"Oh Pearl, oh fuck, fuck." Lapis felt like she was going to throw up. Blood smeared thickly down Pearl's chin, splatters of it staining the light turtleneck of her shirt. Lapis felt the wetness at the side of Pearl's head, leaving a red that was deeper than the red of her hair.

Lapis curled an arm around Pearl, pulling her close as she leaned her head against her shoulder, careful of her chest and more than likely broken ribs.

She felt tears prickle at the corner of her eyes as a choking despair welled up in her stomach and up her throat.

"Fuck."


	4. Chapter 4

Lapis had managed to lay Pearl in a more delicate position, on her back and cushioned by her dirtied jacket. Lapis sat next to her, face in her hands as she tried desperately to hold back tears.

"Fuck. Fuck, what am I going to do?" She was shaking, and she was almost surprised that the panic eating at her was more for Pearl than it was for herself. "Oh God, how am I going to get you out of here?"

She turned back to Pearl, a hand cupping a cold cheek. Her thumb passed over the crimson that speckled Pearl's chin, wiping away a thick trail.

"Pearl?" She quietly implored, hoping that she could jog her awake. "Pearl, can you hear me? Please wake up." She almost cried again when all she got was a pained groan in response. Pearl's eyes tightened for a split second, a grimace tearing its way through her features. Lapis sucked in a shuddering breath. She figured a reaction was better than none.

Lapis dragged her hands through her hair, pulling her bangs back roughly against her scalp as she looked over the mess surrounding them. Intermittent glimmering speckled the dark beyond, the shattered pieces of bright seekers catching the soft light of the bloody device that lay next to Pearl. A viscous liquid, like thick water, was splayed across the concrete, swirling with what almost looked like glitter. Lapis had the same substance coating her arms, albeit she had tried to wipe them clean. The crystal water had left behind a sticky sheen, one that radiated cold and made the hairs of her arm stand on end.

"I hope this washes off," Lapis grumbled to herself. She looked back at Pearl, almost hoping she would be awake and have an answer or retort ready. But she was still on her back, eyes squeezed shut in unconscious pain. Lapis brought her knees to her chest, curling in on herself.

Her head snapped up when she heard a groan of pain followed by a groggy "Lapis?"

Lapis looked, wide eyed, at a stirring Pearl, her eyes fluttering as her fingers curled in on her palms. Lapis scrambled to all fours, crawling over to Pearl's side. Pearl's skin still held a too white pallor, but her eyes were fully open now, although with a twitch of pain that ran through them as she attempted to sit up. Lapis put a hand on her shoulder, not needing much force to keep Pearl down in her weakened state.

"Careful," Lapis said. "You're hurt pretty bad."

"Help me up, at least," Pearl insisted with a wince. Lapis only nodded, bracing Pearl's weight with her arm as she helped to prop her up, Pearl's sharp shoulders leaning into Lapis's chest.

"Ugh, my head is killing me." Pearl reached a hand behind her head, giving the bloodied area a rub that was attempting to be soothing. When she pulled the hand back with a crimson stain, she merely scoffed. "Of course. Typical." She rolled her eyes, and Lapis was a bit put off by the reaction.

"Your head is bleeding," she began, "and that's your reaction?" She gave her a bewildered look, face scrunching up as she peered up at her. Pearl only sent her eyes skyward again.

"It's fine. I'm just irritated by the fact I let myself get hurt like this again." Pearl shook her head. "Stupid mistakes made on my part." She gave a heavy sigh, unintentionally leaning into Lapis. Lapis held back a surge of heat to her face at the flushed contact.

"I think your injuries are more important than your performance. Are you tired? You probably have a concussion." Lapis shifted her weight, allowing Pearl to sit up straighter.

"I don't get tired, I get results," Pearl grumbled, a slight slur pulling at her words. She slumped, a look of discomfort rippling through her expression. She brought a hand up to cover her eyes, her other arm wrapping around her torso to cradle her ribs. "I just noticed how much my chest hurts." She then gave a wracking cough, flecks of blood coming with it.

"Geez, I wonder why!" Lapis gritted her teeth. "You pushed me out of the way of that shatterer and let it beat you to a pulp. So yeah, pretty stupid." She couldn't keep the waver in her voice, a coating of worry covering and seeping into the wet anger.

"I couldn't let it get you," was all Pearl said, pointedly not looking at Lapis. Lapis huffed.

"Oh yeah? And what about you, huh? You should have just let it get me, and then you wouldn't be all fucked up."

Pearl exhaled, a wheeze rattling it. "No, I couldn't just let it get you. Lapis, it would have killed you."

"You don't know that," Lapis retorted. "And so what? At least you could get somewhere without me. If you died, I probably would have ended up dying soon after."

Pearl rubbed her eyes. "Can we please stop talking about this? We need to move."

"What part of 'you're hurt badly' do you not understand?" Lapis tightened her grip on Pearl.

"Well, we can't stay here, regardless. It won't do either of us any good if we just laze about because I have a few bruised ribs and a headache."

Lapis looked at Pearl with wide eyes, mouth hung open in disbelief. "You're kidding right?" Pearl just looked at her questioningly. "You probably have a few _broken_ ribs and a smashed in head, you idiot."

"It's not smashed in," Pearl said softly in a defensive tone, hand reflexively touching the base of her skull.

"It might as well be with how stupid you're acting!" She almost threw her arms out but reminded herself she was the main thing supporting Pearl at that moment. She kept them in place. Pearl scowled.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself." She glared at Pearl. Pearl just pursed her lips in response. There was a beat of silence between them. And finally, Pearl spoke.

"Bright hunters heal quick. I'll be fine." She shrugged her shoulder, a futile attempt to get out of Lapis's grip. Lapis held firm.

"I'll be even better," she continued, "if we get to Beach City as soon as possible. They have resources there to speed up both of our healing processes." She cast a sharp glare towards Lapis, eyes meticulously taking in the damage that she sustained. Lapis grimaced.

"Okay, fine, whatever."

They shuffled between each other, Lapis wrapping an arm gingerly around Pearl's waist, careful to keep it well below her ribs. Pearl attempted to put some distance in their proximity, but Lapis only tugged her closer, bearing the majority of Pearl's weight. Pearl scowled but said nothing.

Pearl nodded her head sluggishly towards the stairwell. "Up we go. Lucky we're on the right platform." Her voice was weak, and Lapis noticed the way Pearl's lids would droop before fluttering stubbornly. Her eyes were unfocused, even more so now that she was standing up as opposed to lying down. Despite herself, Lapis did not remark on it, but filed it away to the forefront of her mind.

They took slow steps together, Pearl's feet dragging with the sound of scuffing concrete. They ascended the steps at an uneven pace, Pearl with an arm outstretched to lay a bruised palm against the wall, and Lapis with both arms clinging to Pearl like a limpet. Pearl tried to suppress the rattling breaths that came out with every few lurches up the stairwell, but the shudder of her ribcage vibrated against Lapis and gave more away than she could hide.

"Not much longer to go," Pearl said. Lapis got the sense that Pearl was trying to reassure Lapis more than anything. It wasn't working. "Even at this rate we should be there in an hour. This train was used by Beach City quite a bit as well." Her words were strained and slow. "I, uh, I used it once or twice. It was fast."

Lapis gave her a worrying look. She was rambling, shaky pauses hitching the muddied thoughts she warbled out. Pearl was blinking more, and a heavy sway carried her limbs like a wispy tree in a gale. Lapis shifted to bear more of Pearl's weight.

"Pearl, be quiet. You aren't really in the best condition to be using energy to speak." Lapis furrowed her brow.

Pearl didn't quite look at her, eyes hazy as they were, but gave an almost comical pout, lips downturned with tiredly squinting eyes. "Please. I'm fine."

"Yeah, okay, sure you are." Lapis rolled her eyes as she guided them up another few steps. "Just try to focus on the task at hand, alright?"

Pearl hummed. "Yes, I suppose you're right. The task of… getting home. Beach City." Her words held an uncertainty to them, like she was reminded herself what it was they were doing. Lapis felt the worry compress tightly around her head. The concussion must have been worse than she initially thought.

Pearl's head lolled, rolling on her neck before slumping against the top of Lapis's. She grumbled above her, head heavy.

"M' head hurts." Pearl's free hand, the one not steadying against the wall, curled around Lapis's shoulder, cold fingers catching the hem of Lapis's sleeveless top. Lapis grimaced, but not at Pearl's cold touch.

"You're more messed up than you were trying to let on, huh?" Lapis nudged back against Pearl's head. Pearl made a gravelly sound in her throat.

"As I said I'm… fine. Head. Just hurts." Pearl's sentences were broken up, like she was concentrating on each word she spoke. Lapis was about to retort when they suddenly stepped into light. But not light of the outside. An unnatural light that flooded the stairwell in sterile white.

Lapis felt her heartbeat quicken, thudding flooding her ears as her pulse pushed blood in fear. She instantly tensed up, accidentally knocking her head against Pearl's. Pearl grumbled both from the wash of light and the smack to the side of her skull, eyes squeezed tight.

"Pearl, we have to move-" Lapis only managed part of her frantic warning before the light focused in on them, temporarily blinding her with a void of white.

"Hey! Holy shit!" A voice echoed down the stairwell from the light, loud and with a rasp of youth to it. Lapis stood frozen, arms squeezing Pearl much too tight. It wasn't a bright seeker, but that was only a slight comfort.

"Pearl!" The light wavered away from her eyes, but came closer with the loud pattering of feet on stone. Lapis looked to Pearl, who seemed to react to the voice, eyes squinted in concentration.

"Amethyst?" She managed to slur out.

A short girl, younger than Lapis and most certainly younger than Pearl, was now above them on the steps, wild hair blending with the bleached light of the heavy flashlight she held. She looked sturdy, sturdier than either Lapis or Pearl, and she doubted either of them could take her in a fight at this point.

Luckily, the familiarity in Pearl's voice and the fact she even knew this girl's name comforted Lapis in telling her that maybe they wouldn't have to bite and claw their way to survival for once today. She gave a grateful shudder, even if the sight of a new stranger still put her on edge. Even if Pearl did know her, she could never be too wary.

"Oh my god, Garnet, I found her!" The short girl turned sharply, a hand cupped around her mouth as she yelled back up the stairs. Another light melded with her's, brightening the area, stinging Lapis's eyes.

"Pearl!" This woman was tall, dark skin and an even darker shock of hair looming above them all. Her eyes were hidden by iridescent pair of shades, expression muted to Lapis. It made her nervous.

Both Garnet and Amethyst stepped closer, but stopped a few steps away from them both. They focused a wary gaze at Lapis, deciding to keep their distance.

"Who the heck are you?" Amethyst asked, brows furrowed and lips downturned. Garnet was also frowning, but if she was scowling like Amethyst, Lapis couldn't tell.

Lapis was quiet, shell shocked. She felt herself shake, and she willed words to stutter up her throat. But before she could manage them, Pearl spoke for her.

"Lapis. I found her. She's safe. Saved me." Pearl's voice was weak, but she put a forcefulness behind her words. She managed to lift her head up, a charade of steadiness.

Amethyst directed her attention to Pearl, but Garnet kept her head tilted towards Lapis. Lapis felt cold prickle the back of her neck.

"I told ya' we'd find her here," Amethyst said, motioning towards Pearl as she glanced back at Garnet. She turned an almost apologetic look to Pearl, shrugging. "Sorry Pearl. Had to spill the beans."

Pearl heaved a heavy sigh, one that Lapis could feel shaking her damaged ribcage. "It's fine, I suppose."

Garnet's head turned sharply towards Pearl.

"It is not fine. But we'll have that discussion later. You're pretty beat up." She paused, and Lapis could only assume she was looking Pearl over. "We're taking you back to the house, now."

Pearl held up her hands placatingly, head turned away almost shamefully. "No arguments here." It seemed Garnet's disapproval had a sobering affect on Pearl's slushed mind.

Garnet turned her head towards Lapis again. There was a tense beat of silence before she spoke up once more. "We'll talk about all…" Garnet paused, gesturing a hand at Lapis, "… this, when we get back. You've got a lot of explaining to do, Pearl."

"I know." Pearl sounded defeated. Lapis was confused, but mostly grateful they'd be getting to Beach City now, and the responsibility of that no longer on her shoulders. Literally.

Garnet stepped forward, and Lapis suppressed the urge to step back. She was really tall. Taller than she had first anticipated. Garnet raised her hands.

"Sorry," she said. "Didn't mean to scare you." She lowered one hand, sweeping it towards Pearl. "Mind if I take over?"

A part of Lapis almost reared in defense, afraid to let go of Pearl. But the part of her at the forefront, the rational part, simply nodded after a moment of hesitation.

"Really, Garnet, I'm fine," Pearl attempted, even pushing herself away from Lapis. Lapis looked at her affronted, but Pearl didn't seem to notice as she wobbled.

"You are not fine." Garnet took an imploring step forward, long but delicate hands taking hold of Pearl's shoulders. "Come here."

"Garnet!" Pearl drew out her name in a whine, like a child protesting. Lapis saw the telltale signs of a smirk twitch at Garnet's lips. Then, before Lapis or Pearl could even react, Garnet swept Pearl up into her arms, cradled like a bride. Or in this case, a sleepy child. Pearl's face resembled a tomato, scrunched up in an embarrassed pout. She pointedly was turning her head away from Garnet and everyone else's eyes, giving Lapis a view of her red tipped ears poking from the hair that framed her face.

Amethyst gave a low whistle. "Oh man, Pearl's gonna love that, Garnet." She gave a cheesy grin. Garnet didn't react, but Pearl only seemed to go redder, shoulders hunching around her just as red ears. Lapis felt a twinge in her gut.

Garnet just nodded to Amethyst. "Help Lapis and let's go." Amethyst gave a mock salute.

"Righto, captain Garnet." She hopped down to Lapis's side, poking her shoulder.

"You good or need to be carried too?" Amethyst raised her arms, crossing them behind her head.

Lapis blinked a few times. She then shook her head. "Uh, no, I'm… I'm good. Thanks."

"Cool," Amethyst said. "Cuz I wasn't gonna carry you like Garnet with P over there." She gave a loud laugh, turning heel and walking back up the stairs. Lapis felt her face twitch.

"Okay." She stood there a moment, looking at the backs of the two new strangers walking up the stairwell. She shook herself, blowing air from her mouth as she ran a shaky hand through her hair.

She didn't know what to think of this development, but it couldn't be worse than more bright seekers.


End file.
